Born in Vancouver, grown up in Montreal/QB and Williams Lake, BC. Has played guitar since age 14. After playing electric guitar for some time, he met a guy who knew how to fingerpick and taught him th ...Show More
Born in Vancouver, grown up in Montreal/QB and Williams Lake, BC. Has played guitar since age 14. After playing electric guitar for some time, he met a guy who knew how to fingerpick and taught him the basics. His first gig was at school with a band called "Arsus Myth".An accomplished live performer, Don Alder has toured in B.C. with blues, folk, pop, funk and country artists over the last 23 years.He has also worked as a professional studio musician and sound engineer. As a composer, Don has created original commissioned works for television, radio, theatre, albums, feature films, documentaries and videos. He was a member of the team that went around the world with Rick Hansen in the late 1980s on his Man In Motion Tour, which led Don Alder to volunteer work with the Vancouver Adapted Music Society (VAMS). As a member of the VAMS performance band, Spinal Chord, Don Alder helped break new ground in shaping perceptions, produced a CD ("Why be Normal") and video ("Mary") and made numerous live and television appearances to promote and support music by the disabled.In 2005 Don Alder did master class work with some of the best acoustic fingerstyle artists in the world, including Don Ross and Peppino D'Agostino, Stephen King and Alex De Grassi.Today, Alder continues to play to Canadian, American, European, and Asian audiences, sharing stages with Grand Master Acousticians such as Peter Finger, Jacques Stotzem, Bob Evans, Andy Mckee, Masa Sumide, John Parr, Ellen McElwaine, Cassius Kahm, Muriel Anderson, Michael Manring. He has also performed at festivals as a headliner which included artists such as Don Ross, Pierre Bensusan, Del Vazeau, Ric Emmet, Victor Wooten, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Tommy Emmanuel, Martin Simpson, and Dave Martone.He writes and performs all of his own music, and has released six albums. Since 2011, writer for Iguitar Magazine; also - on the GuitarPlayer Label (Guitar Player Magazine).Don Alder is volunteering as "Artists as teachers" for DAREarts, a Canadian charitable organization that uses educational experiences in the arts to empower children and youth facing life challenges, with confidence, courage and leadership skills to unlock their potential and ignite change in their lives and communities. Hide
